The 4 Horsemen Of The Drought Apocalypse?

Will this drought cause a famine of biblical proportions? I sure hope not ,but this is getting scary now!

Christian Science monitor reports that the drought is so severe that certain foods will be disappearing from supermarket shelves and the impacts will be felt pretty soon. Elsewhere across the globe other countries depend on the US for food.It will cause those countries to have water shortages because they would be forced to grow more food for themselves growing crops requires plenty of water that they would otherwise have to drink and remember we humans cannot survive to long without water.Barracuda.

As the historic drought now searing more than 60 percent of the US drags on, the impact could soon be sweeping across the country and beyond.

After the obvious push on food prices, drought experts say the cascading chain of secondary societal effects will range from higher utility prices and industry costs in the developed world to population displacements and potential political unrest in less developed regions.Continued At csmonitor.com

Why is the heartland of the United States experiencing such a horrific drought right now? At the moment, approximately 61 percent of the entire nation is experiencing drought conditions, and this is absolutely devastating farmers and ranchers all over the country. Less than two weeks ago I wrote an article asking what would happen if these drought conditions persisted, and now we are finding out. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created the largest natural disaster area in U.S. history. The USDA has declared 1,016 counties in 26 U.S. states to be disaster areas. The USDA declaration basically covered about half of the nation, and there is now no denying how horrible this drought really is. You can see a map of this disaster area right here. This endless drought is being compared to the nightmarish drought of 1988, and if it persists into August it could become perhaps the worst drought that America has ever seen. The USDA says that approximately 60 percent of all corn in the country is experiencing “moderate to extreme” drought conditions. If this drought does not end soon, the losses are going to be mind blowing. Already, it is estimated that farmers and ranchers have suffered billions of dollars in damage. How much worse can things get?

From Live Science: How Bad Is the US Drought?

Nearly two-thirds of the continental United States is in the grip of a drought, threatening agriculture, particularly corn, and prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare a disaster in more than 1,000 counties in 26 states — the largest disaster in the history of the program.

A combination of factors, including the heat wave that hit much of the country in June and earlier this month, are blamed for the drought, which rivals the geographic extent of the multiyear droughts of the 1950s and the 1930s, a decade marked by the historic Dust Bowl that devastated agriculture in the central United States.

But while the USDA designated it to be the largest single disaster of its history effective July 12, the drought itself is not breaking records.continued here

Business Insider :COWPOCALYPSE: Prepare For The Largest-Ever Drop In Livestock Herds

Morgan Stanley’s Hussein Allidina is out with his latest agricultural commodities update.

The news: We are in for a big burn on prices, as record heat and drought roasts corn and soybean crops into oblivion.

“We are raising our 2012/2013 corn and soy forecasts to account for tighter-than-expected balances. Our new price deck implies 3% and 4% upside to the corn and bean curves, respectively. While we expect that corn and soybean prices to average $7.85/bu and $16.00/bu, respectively, in the coming year, we expect that the inelastic nature of demand for these products, and the prospect of record tight inventories could send prices significantly higher for short periods of time in 2H12. Indeed, we anticipate periods of time in the coming months where corn trades in double-digits.”

The USDA’s current forecasts, he says, are way too optimistic.

“With US weather forecast to remain hot and dry through at least end-July and likely into August, the direction of yield estimates and production is likely lower still. Our yield forecasts, which assume July weather averages roughly as it has to date, with August’s weather deviation from normal half as strong as July, pegs corn and bean yields at 135.0 bu/acre and 40.0 bu/acre, respectively — versus the USDA at 146.0 bu/acre and 40.5 bu/acre.

Here is an article I found with some statistics on droughts and famine

Droughts are unusually long periods of insufficient rainfall.

Since ancient times droughts have had far-reaching effects on humankind by causing the failure of crops, decreasing natural vegetation, and depleting water supplies. Livestock and wildlife, as well as humans, die of thirst and famine; large land areas often suffer damage from dust storms or fire.

Famines are extreme shortages of food that cause people to die of starvation.

Where: Egypt

When: 1200-02

The Egyptian people relied on the annual flooding of the Nile River to leave soil for growing crops. After a shortage of rain, however, the Nile didn’t rise. People were unable to grow food and began to starve to death. The final death toll was 110,000, due to starvation, cannibalism, and disease.

Where: Ireland

When: 1845-49

Potatoes were the mainstay of the Irish diet. When the crop was struck by a potato blight (a fungus that killed the crop), farmers and their families began to starve. The grain and livestock raised in Ireland were owned by the English, and the laws of the time prevented the Irish people from importing grain to eat. This combination of plant disease and politics resulted in the Great Potato Famine, which killed 1.5 million people and caused a million more to move to America.

Where: The Great Plains of the U.S.

When: 1930s

The U.S. experienced its longest drought of the twentieth century. Peak periods were 1930, 1934, 1936, 1939, and 1940. During 1934, dry regions stretched solidly from New York and Pennsylvania across the Great Plains to the California coast. A great “dust bowl” covered 50 million acres in the south central plains during the winter of 1935–1936. Heavy winds caused the dry soil to be blown into huge clouds. Crops and pasture lands were ruined by the harsh dust storms, which also proved a severe health hazard.